The Court of Appeals in the US has reaffirmed the right of The Gatorade Company to use the slogan “Gatorade The Sports Fuel Company” in the latest installment of a long-running dispute.
SportFuel, a Chicago-based lifestyle and nutrition consultancy which owns a number of trademarks for the term “SportFuel” has sought to prevent Gatorade from using the term for several years.
However, the federal court found that Gatorade’s use of the term fell within “fair use” and declined to reverse an earlier decision that “Sports Fuel” was a descriptive term used by numerous food and drink manufacturers to describe nutritional sports products.
The court also rejected an argument by SportFuel that Gatorade had acted in bad faith, after hearing evidence regarding the allegedly fractious relationship between Gatorade and the founder of SportFuel.
